Magmatic and tectonic emplacement of the Pukaskwa batholith, Superior Province, Ontario, CanadaThis article is one of a series of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme of Geochronology in honour of Tom Krogh.

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary P. Beakhouse ◽  
Shoufa Lin ◽  
Sandra L. Kamo
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Abrupt Change ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Density Inversion ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Slab Breakoff ◽  
Greenstone Belts ◽  
Lower Crustal ◽  
Basaltic Crust ◽  
Structural Dome

The Neoarchean Pukaskwa batholith consists of pre-, syn-, and post-tectonic phases emplaced over an interval of 50 million years. Pre-tectonic phases are broadly synvolcanic and have a high-Al tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) affinity interpreted to reflect derivation by partial melting of basaltic crust at lower crustal or upper mantle depths. Minor syn-tectonic phases slightly post-date volcanism and have geochemical characteristics suggesting some involvement or interaction with an ultramafic (mantle) source component. Magmatic emplacement of pre- and syn-tectonic phases occurred in the midcrust at paleopressures of 550–600 MPa and these components of the batholith are thought to be representative of the midcrust underlying greenstone belts during their development. Subsequent to emplacement of the syntectonic phases, and likely at approximately 2680 Ma, the Pukaskwa batholith was uplifted as a structural dome relative to flanking greenstone belts synchronously with ongoing regional sinistral transpressive deformation. The driving force for vertical tectonism is interpreted to be density inversion (Rayleigh–Taylor-type instabilities) involving denser greenstone belts and underlying felsic plutonic crust. The trigger for initiation of this process is interpreted to be an abrupt change in the rheology of the midcrust attributed to introduction of heat from the mantle attendant with slab breakoff or lithospheric delamination following the cessation of subduction. This process also led to partial melting of the intermediate to felsic midcrust generating post-tectonic granitic phases at approximately 2667 Ma. We propose that late density inversion-driven vertical tectonics is an inevitable consequence of horizontal (plate) tectonic processes associated with greenstone belt development within the Superior Province.

Rubidium–strontium ages from the Oxford Lake – Knee Lake greenstone belt, northern Manitoba

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 560-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Clark ◽  
S.-P. Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Granitic Intrusion ◽  
Greenstone Belts ◽  
Archean Greenstone Belts

Rb–Sr whole-rock ages have been determined for rocks from the Oxford Lake – Knee Lake – Gods Lake greenstone belt, in the Superior Province of northeastern Manitoba.The age of the Magill Lake Pluton is 2455 ± 35 Ma (λ87Rb = 1.42 × 10−11 yr−1), with an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7078 ± 0.0043. This granitic stock intrudes the Oxford Lake Group, so it is post-tectonic and probably related to the second, weaker stage of metamorphism.The age of the Bayly Lake Pluton is 2424 ± 74 Ma, with an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7029 ± 0.0001. This granodioritic batholith complex does not intrude the Oxford Lake Group. It is syn-tectonic and metamorphosed.The age of volcanic rocks of the Hayes River Group, from Goose Lake (30 km south of Gods Lake Narrows), is 2680 ± 125 Ma, with an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7014 ± 0.0009.The age for the Magill Lake and Bayly Lake Plutons can be interpreted as the minimum ages of granitic intrusion in the area.The age for the Hayes River Group volcanic rocks is consistent with Rb–Sr ages of volcanic rocks from other Archean greenstone belts within the northwestern Superior Province.

Plumbing and architecture of a crustal mineralizing system in the Archean Superior Province, Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Roots ◽  
Graham Hill ◽  
Ben M. Frieman ◽  
James A. Craven ◽  
Richard S. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Spatial Association ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Abitibi Subprovince ◽  
Lower Crustal

<p>The role of melts and magmatic/metamorphic fluids in mineralization processes is well established. However, the role of crustal architecture in defining source and sink zones in the middle to lower crust remains enigmatic. Integration of three dimensional magnetotelluric (MT) modelling and seismic reflection data across the Archean Abitibi greenstone belt of the Superior Province, Canada, reveals a ‘whole-of-crust’ mineralizing system and highlights the controls by crustal architecture on metallogenetic processes. Electrically conductive conduits in an otherwise resistive upper crust are coincident with truncations and offsets of seismic reflections that are mostly interpreted as major brittle-ductile fault zones. The spatial association between these features and low resistivity zones imaged in the 3D models suggest that these zones acted as pathways through which fluids and melts ascended toward the surface. At mid-crustal levels, these ‘conduit’ zones connect to ~50 km long, north-south striking conductors, and are inferred to represent graphite and/or sulphide deposited from cooling fluids. At upper mantle to lower crustal depths, east-west trending conductive zones dominate and display shallow dips. The upper mantle features are broadly coincident with the surface traces of the major deformation zones with which a large proportion of the gold endowment is associated. We suggest that these deep conductors represent interconnected graphitic zones perhaps augmented by sulphides that are relicts from metamorphic fluid and melt emplacement associated primarily with the later stages of regional deformation.  Thus, from the combined MT and seismic data, we develop a crustal-scale architectural model that is consistent with existing geological and deformational models, providing constraints on the sources for and signatures of fluid and magma emplacement that resulted in widespread metallogenesis in the Abitibi Subprovince.</p>

scholarly journals A review of the inferred geodynamic evolution of the Dharwar craton over the ca. 3.5–2.5 Ga period, and possible implications for global tectonics

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.V. Sunder Raju ◽  
P.G. Eriksson ◽  
O. Catuneanu ◽  
S. Sarkar ◽  
S. Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Dharwar Craton ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Granitic Magmatism ◽  
High Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Granite Batholith ◽  
Wilson Cycle ◽  
Greenstone Belts ◽  
Granitoid Intrusions ◽  
Global Tectonics

The geological history and evolution of the Dharwar craton from ca. 3.5–2.5 Ga is reviewed and briefly compared with a second craton, Kaapvaal, to allow some speculation on the nature of global tectonic regimes in this period. The Dharwar craton is divided into western (WDC) and eastern (EDC) parts (separated possibly by the Closepet Granite Batholith), based on lithological differences and inferred metamorphic and magmatic genetic events. A tentative evolution of the WDC encompasses an early, ca. 3.5 Ga protocrust possibly forming the basement to the ca. 3.35–3.2 Ga Sargur Group greenstone belts. The latter are interpreted as having formed through accretion of plume-related ocean plateaux. The approximately coeval Peninsular Gneiss Complex (PGC) was possibly sourced from beneath plateau remnants, and resulted in high-grade metamorphism of Sargur Group belts at ca. 3.13–2.96 Ga. At about 2.9–2.6 Ga, the Dharwar Supergroup formed, comprising lower Bababudan (largely braided fluvial and subaerial volcanic deposits) and upper Chitradurga (marine mixed clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks and subaqueous volcanics) groups. This supergroup is preserved in younger greenstone belts with two distinct magmatic events, at 2.7–2.6 and 2.58–2.54 Ga, the latter approximately coincident with ca. 2.6–2.5 Ga granitic magmatism which essentially completed cratonization in the WDC. The EDC comprises 2.7–2.55 Ga tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) gneisses and migmatites, approximately coeval greenstone belts (dominated by volcanic lithologies), with minor inferred remnants of ca. 3.38–3.0 Ga crust, and voluminous 2.56–2.5 Ga granitoid intrusions (including the Closepet Batholith). An east-to-west accretion of EDC island arcs (or of an assembled arc – granitic terrane) onto the WDC is debated, with a postulate that the Closepet Granite accreted earlier onto the WDC as part of a “central Dharwar” terrane. A final voluminous granitic cratonization event is envisaged to have affected the entire, assembled Dharwar craton at ca. 2.5 Ga. When Dharwar evolution is compared with that of Kaapvaal, while possibly global magmatic events and freeboard–eustatic changes at ca. 2.7–2.5 Ga may be identified on both, the much earlier cratonization (by ca. 3.1 Ga) of Kaapvaal contrasts strongly with the ca. 2.5 Ga stabilization of Dharwar. From comparing only two cratons, it appears that genetic and chronologic relationships between mantle thermal and plate tectonic processes were complex on the Archaean Earth. The sizes of the Kaapvaal and Dharwar cratons might have been too limited yet to support effective thermal blanketing and thus accommodate Wilson Cycle onset. However, tectonically driven accretion and amalgamation appear to have predominated on both evolving cratons.

scholarly journals Archaean Plate Tectonics in the North Atlantic Craton of West Greenland Revealed by Well-Exposed Horizontal Crustal Tectonics, Island Arcs and Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite Complexes

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Andreas Garde ◽  
Brian Frederick Windley ◽  
Thomas Find Kokfelt ◽  
Nynke Keulen
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Plate Tectonic ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
Structural Style ◽  
Modern Style ◽  
Greenstone Belts ◽  
Lower Crustal ◽  
North Atlantic Craton

The 700 km-long North Atlantic Craton (NAC) in West Greenland is arguably the best exposed and most continuous section of Eo-to Neoarchaean crust on Earth. This allows a close and essential correlation between geochemical and isotopic data and primary, well-defined and well-studied geological relationships. The NAC is therefore an excellent and unsurpassed stage for the ongoing controversial discussion about uniformitarian versus non-uniformitarian crustal evolution in the Archaean. The latest research on the geochemistry, structural style, and Hf isotope geochemistry of tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) complexes and their intercalated mafic to intermediate volcanic belts strongly supports previous conclusions that the NAC formed by modern-style plate tectonic processes with slab melting of wet basaltic oceanic crust in island arcs and active continental margins. New studies of the lateral tectonic convergence and collision between juvenile belts in the NAC corroborate this interpretation. Nevertheless, it has repeatedly been hypothesised that the Earth’s crust did not develop by modern-style, subhorizontal plate tectonics before 3.0 Ga, but by vertical processes such as crustal sinking and sagduction, and granitic diapirism with associated dome-and-keel structures. Many of these models are based on supposed inverted crustal density relations, with upper Archaean crust dominated by heavy mafic ridge-lavas and island arcs, and lower Archaean crust mostly consisting of felsic, supposedly buoyant TTGs. Some of them stem from older investigations of upper-crustal Archaean greenstone belts particularly in the Dharwar craton, the Slave and Superior provinces and the Barberton belt. These interpreted interactions between these upper and lower crustal rocks are based on the apparent down-dragged greenstone belts that wrap around diapiric granites. However, in the lower crustal section of the NAC, there is no evidence of any low-density granitic diapirs or heavy, downsagged or sagducted greenstone belts. Instead, the NAC contains well-exposed belts of upper crustal, arc-dominant greenstone belts imbricated and intercalated by well-defined thrusts with the protoliths of the now high-grade TTG gneisses, followed by crustal shortening mainly by folding. This shows us that the upper and lower Archaean crustal components did not interact by vertical diapirism, but by subhorizontal inter-thrusting and folding in an ambient, mainly convergent plate tectonic regime.

New high-precision U–Pb ages for the Island Lake greenstone belt, northwestern Superior Province: implications for regional stratigraphy and the extent of the North Caribou terrane

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 789-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Parks ◽  
Shoufa Lin ◽  
Don Davis ◽  
Tim Corkery
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Geological History ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
Mapping Study ◽  
The North ◽  
Crustal Block ◽  
Greenstone Belts

A combined U–Pb and field mapping study of the Island Lake greenstone belt has led to the recognition of three distinct supracrustal assemblages. These assemblages record magmatic episodes at 2897, 2852, and 2744 Ma. Voluminous plutonic rocks within the belt range in age from 2894 to 2730 Ma, with a concentration at 2744 Ma. U–Pb data also show that a regional fault that transects the belt, the Savage Island shear zone, is not a terrane-bounding structure. The youngest sedimentary group in the belt, the Island Lake Group, has an unconformable relationship with older plutons. Sedimentation in this group is bracketed between 2712 and 2699 Ma. This group, and others similar to it in the northwestern Superior Province, is akin to Timiskaming-type sedimentary groups found throughout the Superior Province and in other Archean cratons. These data confirm that this belt experienced a complex geological history that spanned at least 200 million years, which is typical of greenstone belts in this area. Age correlations between the Island Lake belt and other belts in the northwest Superior Province suggest the existence of a volcanic "megasequence". This evidence, in combination with Nd isotopic data, indicates that the Oxford–Stull domain, and the Munro Lake, Island Lake, and North Caribou terranes may have been part of a much larger reworked Mesoarchean crustal block, the North Caribou superterrane. It appears that the Superior Province was assembled by accretion of such large independent crustal blocks, whose individual histories involved extended periods of autochthonous development.

40Ar/39Ar Incremental Release Ages of Biotite and Hornblende from Pre-Kenoran Gneisses between the Matagami-Chibougamau and Frotet-Troilus Greenstone Belts, Quebec

1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1586-1593 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Dallmeyer
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Continuous Increase ◽  
Thermal Event ◽  
Greenstone Belts ◽  
Orogenic Belts ◽  
Gas Fractions

Biotite and hornblende from high-grade, granitic gneisses exposed between the Matagami-Chibougamau and Frotet-Troilus greenstone belts in Quebec have been affected by Kenoran metamorphism. Biotites record total gas 40Ar/39Ar ages of 2308 ± 30 m.y. and 2338 ± 30 m.y. Incrementally released gas fractions yield similar plateau ages, suggesting that the biotites have been totally degassed as a result of the thermal event. The ages are interpreted as reflecting the time of post-metamorphic cooling when radiogenic 40Ar began to be retained within biotite. Hornblendes record total gas 40Ar/39Ar ages of 2517 ± 40 m.y. and 2610 ± 40 m.y. Incrementally released gas fractions show a wide deviation from the total gas ages, with a continuous increase in age from low to high temperature release fractions. This lack of correlation suggests that the hornblendes have been only partially degassed by Kenoran metamorphism. However, lack of a high-temperature release plateau indicates that original meramorphic crystallization was older than the ages recorded by the highest temperature release fractions (2599 ± 40 and 2801 ± 40 m.y.). Recognition of an older sialic terrain between these greenstone belts supports recent models proposed for the tectonic evolution of the supracrustal orogenic belts in the Superior Province.

Implementation of partial melting with a water- and composition-dependent solidus temperature adapted to TTG formation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Rozel ◽  
Stephen Mojzsis ◽  
Martin Guitreau ◽  
Antonio Manjón Cabeza Córdoba ◽  
Maxim Ballmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Liquidus Temperature ◽  
Solidus Temperature ◽  
Water Concentration ◽  
Early Earth ◽  
Numerical Treatment ◽  
End Members ◽  
Basaltic Crust

<p>More and more convection codes now consider the apparition of melt when the temperature of the mantle exceeds a considered solidus temperature. How melt is treated when it appears varies a lot from one code to another. The convection code StagYY has been using an implementation in which molten eclogite is produced out of melting of mixed mantle. The melt is then teleported above ("erupted") or below ("intruded") the basaltic crust. In a recent study by Jain et al. 2019, we have shown that it is possible to also self-consistently generate continental crust (so-called TTG rocks) if the basaltic crust is entrained in the mantle and remolten. In nature, this only happens if a lot of water is present in the recycled basalt so a numerical treatment of water is necessary.</p><p>In this poster, we discuss the details of a new implementation of melting in which each cell of the convection domain is divided in several groups of different composition. Each group has a different solidus and liquidus temperature according to the composition and the water content. The solidus temperature is computed using an interpolation between composition and water concentration end members instead of using an extrapolation from the solidus temperature, as it is usually done. This ensures that TTGs form at a realistic melt fraction and provides a different view on how the continental crust of the early Earth might have formed.</p>

Variable unroofing in the western Superior Province - metamorphic evidence and possible origin

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 805-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Hynes ◽  
Zixin Song
Keyword(s):  
Superior Province ◽  
Surface Distribution ◽  
Seismic Line ◽  
The North ◽  
Metavolcanic Rocks ◽  
Limited Support ◽  
Greenstone Belts ◽  
Rotation Motion ◽  
East West ◽  
Broad Region

Western Superior Lithoprobe seismic-reflection line 1 exhibits a broad region of northward-dipping reflectors in the Uchi subprovince, which gives way to southward-dipping reflectors farther north in the Berens River sub province. Mafic metavolcanic rocks across the region of northward-dipping reflectors exhibit a decline in metamorphic pressure, from pressures of 6 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa) in the south to only 2 kbar 80 km to the north. This indicates that the southern edge of the Uchi subprovince has undergone significantly more unroofing than regions farther north. The differential unroofing is not consistent with a doubly vergent thrusting origin for the northward- and southward-dipping reflector pattern. It could result from a crustal-scale synform, of which the region of northward-dipping reflectors would make up the southern limb. Metamorphic pressures from samples off the seismic line, however, provide only limited support for a regional synform, and suggest that much of the pressure variation may result from deformation associated with motion on late faults that are widespread in the western Superior Province. These faults occur in a WNW-striking set with dextral offsets and an ENE-striking set with sinistral offsets. They could result from north–south compression and east–west extension, provided the faults have rotated towards the east–west direction during deformation. Regional tilting and (or) jostling of crustal blocks is attributed to deformation associated with the fault rotation. Motion on the faults and the associated deformation of intervening fault blocks may be important contributors to the present crustal architecture of the western Superior Province, including the surface distribution and form of the greenstone belts.

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